From my childhood I have always looked upon Macready as the head of my craft, and regarded him with the reverence a young curate would feel, I suppose, towards the Archbishop of Canterbury.
I regret that I never saw Macready act. I was not ten years old when he left the stage. I had the pleasure, long afterwards, to know his son, Jonathan, a clever surgeon, whose son, Major Macready, I now know; and I rejoice in the friendship of the tragedian's youngest child, General Sir Nevil Macready, whom I first saw at his father's funeral, when he was lifted from a mourning coach—a little fellow of about ten.
My wife was the last stage link with Macready. At one of the farewell performances he gave when he retired she appeared as the child apparition in Macbeth.
I am wandering from my departed guests, but may mention that in my boyhood I saw much of that fine actor, Samuel Phelps, who had so wide a range and to whom no character seemed to come amiss. I have always felt, however, that he was a disciple of Macready, to whom undoubtedly he owed much, and whom he followed as Richelieu, Werner and Virginius.
I may just say that, in my early career, I have acted with Phelps, as well as with Charles Kean and G. V. Brooke, and it may surprise young actors of to-day to know that, in my provincial novitiate of four years and three months, I played no fewer than three hundred and forty-six different parts, with the advantage of repeating many of the Shakespearean characters with different leading actors.
A tribute from Got
I met and knew the great French comedian Edmond Got, for many years doyen of the Comédie française, in the far-off days of the Commune. The chief members of the troupe were here in exile for many months, when it was a privilege to entertain them. It was strange to learn that Got had served in the French cavalry before he went upon the stage. I append a gracious letter I received from him:
"Je veux vous remercier de la gracieuse hospitalité que vous avez bien voulu nous offrir, et vous prier de mettre aux pieds de Mme. Bancroft l'hommage de mon respect et de ma très sincère admiration.
"Quant à vous, monsieur, vous avez montré ce que peut obtenir de ses artistes un habile administrateur, doublé d'un parfait comédien, c'est-à-dire un ensemble que je souhaiterais rencontrer sur beaucoup de scènes parisiennes, et quelquefois sur la nôtre."
Two often welcomed guests were the brothers Coquelin, ainé and cadet. The elder was a great actor, the younger a good actor and a brilliant diseur. Coquelin, as well as his distinguished comrade, Mounet-Sully, also his eminent compatriot, Clemenceau, belonged to "The Vintage."